urn:taro:utexas.cah.01440A Guide to the Canary Islanders Records, 1730-1734Original EAD encoding by Jessi Fishman according to TARO 2 EAD 2002 Editing
Instructions. April 2010Finding aid written in English.
Descriptive Summary
Canary IslandersCanary Islanders Records1730-1734Materials are written in Spanish and English.8 in. Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The
University of Texas at AustinOrders, acknowledgments, inventories,
and reports relate to the equipping of 56 settlers sent by Spain from the Canary
Islands and their subsequent settlement at San Fernando de Béxar, the first
regularly organized civil government in Texas.
Historical Sketch

On February 14, 1719, the Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo proposed to transport 400
families from the Canary Islands, Galicia, and Havana to populate Texas. The king of
Spain approved the plan, and by 1730 twenty-five families from the Canary Islands
had reached Cuba and ten more families, which increased by marriages to 15, had been
sent from the Islands to Veracruz before orders from Spain to stop the movement
arrived. The 15 families of 56 individuals formed San Fernando de Béxar, the first
regularly organized civil government in Texas. These Canary Island emigrants became
the root from whence many of the old San Antonio families descend.

The Canary Islanders Records, 1730-1734, relate to the equipping of 56 settlers sent
by Spain from the Canary Islands and their subsequent settlement at San Fernando de
Béxar, now San Antonio. The records include orders, acknowledgments, inventories,
and a report in the form of photocopies of Spanish originals, typed transcripts, and
typed English translations.

Canary Islanders Records, 1730-1734, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The
University of Texas at Austin.

Processing Information

Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s History Revealed: Bringing Collections to Light project, 2009-2011.

Related Material

See also
Marquis de Aguayo Papers, 1720-1722

Forms part of the
Spanish Materials from Various Sources Collection, 1600-1921.